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(THOS,C. ABBOTT) 






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PRACTICAL 
DOG EDUCATION 



By ''RECAPPER" 

(thos. c. Abbott) 



REPRINTED FROM THE AMATEUR SPORTSMAN. 



New York : 
M. T. RICHAKDSON CO. 

1902. 



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THE IL!af<A;iY OF 

QOUQU£T,'3, 
Two Cr,m,f Rbcewbp 

CLASS ^XXs Mo, 

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COPY B. I 



Copyrighted, 1902, by 
M. T. RICHARDSON CO. 



Practical Dog Education 



The above title I have chosen for this work — not the com* 
men one of dog training, and still less, the old and brutal one 
of dog breaking. 

But perhaps some may think that with the numerous books 
already published on the subject, nothing further is left to be 
said; that is a matter of opinion. I am familiar with most of 
these works (some of them good), yet in all of them I find 
something lacking, as I may point out farther on. I think it was 
Frank Forster who wrote that, "for a novice to undertake the 
training of a dog would be an act of stark madness;" yet we 
are all novices when we begin. Another thing I think he 
wrote was that "no man who is not able to control himself 
need ever hope to be able to control his dog;" a dictum far 
more truthful than the first one quoted. Anyone undertaking 
the teaching of a dog requires patience; a perfect control of 
temper; a determination to persevere until success is attained; 
a real love for the dog, an ability to seize upon new ideas 
suggested by the actions of the pupil; and an aptitude for 
seeing the humorous side in all things. With these qualifica- 
tions, and a well-bred pupil, he need heve no fear of failure 
if my advice is followed out to the letter. 

Almost every writer on this subject gives his opinion as to 
the age at which the education of a dog should be begun; and 
right here, I am at variance with all of them. Age has nothing 
to do with it, for dogs are like children, in that the mental 
powers of some are developed at an earlier or later age than 
those of others, even of the same litter. Another point I have 
never seen mentioned is that your dog is always anxious to 
please you, though he cannot say so in words, but begs you by 
actions that speak as eloquently to make plain to him just 



4 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

what you wish him to do, by showing him for a few times how 
and when to do it. 

Many men have started in to train a dog and failed, just be- 
cause they tried to teach too much; or, in other words, tried 
to teach too fast. One of the golden rules is to remember that 
the dog in your care is just what a child is in the care of the 
school teacher. That child is not expected to be able to spell 
until the alphabet is learned, or to read until well grounded in 
spelling. Just so is it with the canine pupil, and no dog will 
ever be thoroughly well trained when, having only partly 
learned one lesson, he is hurried on to another. 

Just here let me say that I am writing of training for field 
sports pure and simple, and not of field trials. Having never 
attended a field trial, I only know of them what I have read 
in reports of such trials; and, judging by these reports, I am 
forced to believe that beyond mere speed and stanchness at 
point, other things count for but little. Of course, a good dog 
for shooting over may be equal to winning several firsts in 
field trials; or a dog trained first exclusively for field trials 
may be developed into an excellent dog for the sportsman; 
and there are such dogs on record, but it is not of the sky- 
scraping field-trialer I write. 

Harking back to the would-be trainer of his own dog, I 
may say that the first thing for him to do is to study the dis- 
position of his young pupil. To do this, make of him a con- 
stant companion as much as possible, and treat him at all 
times with kindness and gentleness. But do not misunder- 
stand me, and do, as many have done, be mistaken in this 
kindness. It is easily possible to be both gentle and kind, 
thereby winning your dog's love and confidence; but you 
want something more than that, a something which shall be 
a great help alike to him and to you in the task before you, 
and that something is his respect. 

Therefore, though you be kind, be not too familiar, remem- 
bering the old saw about "familiarity breeding contempt." As 
corporal punishment is a thing of the past in our schools, so 
let me beg of you, once and for all, to put aside from you all 
thought of use of the whip, at least for the young dog. Chil- 
dren have been taught to read and to spell in the old days 
when the schoolmaster's reign was a "Reign of Terror"; but 
it was, after all, but a parrot-like, word-of-mouth sort of learn- 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 5 

ing, often forgotten before the child reached home at night. 
It is true that, with an untrained, obstinate two-year-old dog 
the whip must sometimes appear; but even then you must be 
very sure that the dog understands what you wish him to do 
and refuses to do it until shown that punishment is certain to 
be inflicted upon him. Even then it is easy for you to be in 
error. One or two strokes with the whip are far better than 
a half-hour's cruel beating. The former makes the dog 
ashamed that his behavior has called for punishment, the 
latter makes him angry and excites within him a spirit of 
rebellion. The cheek-cord and force collar must be your main- 
stay, but even they must be used with great judgment. 

Regarding the proper age at which a dog's education should 
begin, depends, as above said, upon the dog himself. I have 
begun the training of pups when four months old (and timid 
ones at that), and as the slow training continued found that 
tbey developed not only in knowledge, but gained confidence 
in their powers to please me, and this confidence in its turn 
brought courage and dash. It is just like one learning to ride 
a bicycle; for at the start he needs the whole highway, and 
then, as little by little he masters the intricacies of the handle- 
bars and pedals and finds out how to keep his balance, he gets 
self-confident and learns to ride up hill and down, take narrow 
paths and go where he never would have thought of going at 
the first. Just so it is with the dog. His first lesson, when 
well learned and commendation for it received, nerves him to 
try the next, and this building up of self-confidence goes on as 
his education goes on, until it becomes a positive delight to 
him to be instructed. I have spoken above as to the advisa- 
bility of watching the dog's actions in order to get suggestions 
from him as to how best to advance him in this education. 

Many years ago, while training an orange-and-white setter 
in retrieving for one of my patrons, an incident occurred 
which I can never forget, and it illustrates well the point 
above made. The dog was one of a particularly fine and bid- 
able disposition, and showing unmistakably that he took 
pleasure in learning. For reasons I will give later on I always 
use a bunch of quill feathers from the tail of a turkey as the 
object to be retrieved. The dog had quickly learned to carry 
them around when placed in his mouth, or to take them when 
offered from my hand. But beyond this he could not seem to 



6 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

get any idea. If I placed the bunch on a chair, a stool, on the 
ground, and kept my hand close to the hunch, he would when 
ordered pick them up, but if I removed my hand he evidently 
thought I had no farther use for them, and, do what I might, 
paid no attention to the bunch when ordered to "fetch." As 
he showed evident anxiety to get my meaning, I was deter- 
mined not to apply punishment, and so kept on patiently as 
before, but apparently to no purpose. One day while at work 
with him thus, and when I had dropped the bunch of feathers 
on the ground directly in front of him, telling him to "fetch," 
there came a strong puff of wind and moved the feathers just 
as I had pointed to them. Instantly he stooped, seized the 
bunch,, and sat down before me, holding them up for me to 
take. Of course, I let him know he had done the right thing, 
and did it well; but I was not disposed to trust to the wind 
for help, and I ended the lesson right there. One hour later 
I gave him another lesson, but I captured an idea from the 
wind, and equipped myself somewhat differently. The bunch 
of feathers were tied to one end of a strong piece of patent 
thread, the other end of the thread to the little finger of my 
left hand, the thread being about six feet long. Taking the 
dog to a quiet spot and bidding him stand by me, I cast the 
feathers a foot or so from me on the ground; then, while his 
eyes were on the bunch, I gave the order "fetch," and at the 
same moment, unpcrceived by him, I gave a slight jerk on the 
thread, causing the feathers to move. In a moment he sprang 
forward and picked them up, and the lesson was repeated 
several times, and each time I threw the bunch to a greater 
distance, till I had "reached the end of my rope." Then the 
thread was removed and I tried it again, and no matter where 
or how far I cast it, or where I might hide it, that bunch of 
feathers was always promptly found and brought to me imme- 
diately on my giving the order, and a more delighted dog it 
would be hard to find. 

Under the old brutal system of the whip, and nothing but 
the whip, this dog would have been ruined, but, with my deter- 
mination to be patient until the. dog understood what I wished 
him to do, and how he should do it, he made an excellent re- 
triever, while I found out that there was room for me to learn 
something, even though I had only a chance puff of wind for 
my teacher. Almost every writer on the subject whose works 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 7 

I have read will lay down some particular system of training, 
and treat of it as though it was to be followed without varia- 
tion for all dogs. Here, I believe, is another mistake; for, as 
I have pointed out, dogs vary in disposition and the faculty of 
acquiring knowledge, just as do children, and a set system 
■\yhich may do admirably for one dog, may have to be varied in 
some degree, to get satisfactory results, for his litter brother 
or sister. 

The old-time belief that animals do not reason, but do every- 
thing by instinct, is a fallacy. Neither do men or women, 
even of the brightest intellect, do everything by reasoning. 
In moments of great peril, when there has been no time for 
reasoning, many a life has been saved by instinctive action, 
and reason has cut no figure in the rescue. Some might claim 
that it "was a great display of nerve," and so it was; but not 
in the sense they mean. It was simply an involuntary 
act of the motor nerves, prompted by instinct, and 
reason has nothing left to brag of. The man who thinks 
that dogs, horses and other animals do not reason has 
no right to undertake their training, and the two first- 
named having for so long been the companions and servants 
of man, have by that companionship and service, as well as 
by heredity and imitativeness, acquired many of his ways of 
action and of reasoning. "Man," writes Lord Bulwer-Lytton, 
"who is the most conceited of all animals, says that he . 
alone has the prerogative of thought, and condemns other ani- 
mals to the mechanical operation of instinct. But as instinct 
is unerring, and thoughts frequently go wrong, man has not 
much to boast of, according to his own definition." 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCAixON. 



II. 

I am compelled to admit, at the outset, that I can lay no 
claim for originality in my way of educating dogs, or for any 
special system. The whole thing is a conglomeration of ideas, 
taken from various writers on this subject, and altered to suit 
individual pupils and circumstances. I am going to suppose 
that some one of my readers has a young dog — say four or six 
months old — which he is educating; and that I am coaching 
the teacher. I am also supposing that the dog has been the 
property of his teacher long enough to be well acquainted with 
him; has always been kindly treated, and allowed lots of 
exercise. Most writers on training claim that pointing at the 
word is the most important part of yard-training — of which I 
only write — but I differ with them. My claim is that the 
dropping to order, wing or shot, or, as it is sometimes called, 
the "down charge," is most important of all, and, therefore, 
the first thing the dog should learn. 

I must, once for all, mention the importance of always using 
the same word for a particular command; and, as when your 
dog goes down to your order, you wish him to remain down 
until you order him up; and not to go down to the order of 
anyone hut yourself, it is well to adopt some word for this 
command that others would not think of using. As "lie 
down," "down," "charge" and "down charge" are so commonly 
used, and you wish your dog to render obedience to no orders 
except your own, you will (let us suppose) make use of the 
word "drop." Provide yourself with a strong but not heavy 
cord (sash cord is good) about fifty feet long. Later you will 
want a revolver and good supply of blank cartridges. Have a 
strong, light leather collar on the dog's neck. Attach the cord 
to a ring on the collar, lead the dog around for a few minutes, 
and then give the command "drop." Of course, he does not 
know what this means, so you must, with your hand, gently 
but firmly place him in the proper position. If he attempts 
to move, repeat the order "drop," jerking smartly on the cord 
and collar. Do not expect too much of him at first, but keep 
cool and repeat the lesson till he will remain in the proper 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 9 

position. This tirst lesson can be given quite as well (perhaps 
with some pupils better) in the house as out-of-doors. 

In all first lessons you want no other person present, or any- 
thing to draw the dog's attention away from yourself. When 
you have got him to understand by repeated lessons that the 
word "drop" is an order for him to crouch down, the next 
thing is to teach him that he is not, under any circumstances, 
either to get up or move from that spot until ordered to "hold 
up." Drill him thoroughly, however, in the first lesson, until 
he obeys promptly and always drops at command. After each 
lesson is over, if possible, give him a race; and if he wants to 
chase after sparrows and other small birds, let him do it; it 
gives him exercise and arouses the hunting instinct. He 
must next learn that he is to obey your orders and yours only. 
Get a smooth, short stake (a broom handle will do) and drive 
it into the ground firmly. To this fasten the end of a piece of 
cord about ten feet long, and attach the other end to collar 
on the dog's neck. I should have stated above that this short 
cord is the proper one to be used in all of the above lessons. 
All being ready, lead your dog to the stake and give the com- 
mand to "drop" there. As he is supposed to be well drilled, he 
goes down to your order. 

Now start and walk away from him, but watching him all the 
time (if possible, without his knowing it), and if he makes a 
move to follow seize hold of the cord, jerk it sharply and pull 
him back to the stake, and then, but not till then, order him 
again to drop. If you gave the order sooner he would think he 
could come part way towards you and then drop, but you want 
nothing of that kind. There must, in short, be no half-way 
measures, no compromise, but absolute obedience. He will 
soon learn that once down when ordered he is to stay down, no 
matter how far you may go from him, or how long you stay 
away. Practice him in this important lesson till he is perfect 
at it, and then, but not till then, you will need an assistant. 
Having got thus far, you may now at the next lesson teach him 
that he is to have but one master whose orders are law to him, 
and that he owes allegiance to him alone. Put on him the collar 
and short cord and drop him at the stake as before. 

Now go a short distance away and have someone to call or 
whistle to him to induce him to get up, or move away from the 
-Stake. If he does arise or start away, step quietly up to the 



10 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

stake, catch hold of the cord and jerk him back to you and re- 
peat the order to drop, and then try the lesson over again. A 
half-hour drill at this lesson twice a day, for say a week or less, 
ought to make him so steady at the drop that no other person 
can get him to pay any attention to any inducement they can 
offer him to disobey you. These preliminary lessons he should be 
practiced in day after day till he is as perfect in them as the 
trick circus horses in the ring, and there is no occasion while 
training him in them to cow him or intimidate him in any 
way. We will suppose that he has been perfected in this drill, 
and now you will have use for the long cord. If you are lucky 
enough to live in the country, take him into the nearest field, 
fasten one end of the long cord to his collar, and let the other 
end trail on the ground. Of course he will think he is out for 
a race, and will want to be off and you must let him go. 

Right at the start he finds the trailing cord rather in his 
way, but that is just what you want. After he has run off his 
'"wire edge" a little get where you can reach the cord, and, 
having got hold of it, call out "Drop!" just as the cord begins 
to tighten. If he obeys, all right; but if he does not do so 
promptly the cord will stop him and perhaps throw him "heels 
over head." Well, no matter. He has learned two most im- 
portant things at one lesson. First, that by not obeying in- 
stantly he has punished himself, and, second, that you do not 
have to be close up with him to correct. him. From my own 
past experience, I cannot too strongly urge the necessity of 
continuous drilling in this lesson until he is so perfected in 
it that he will drop instantly when ordered, even though the 
distance he may be from you requires that you should call to 
him somewhat loudly, a thing you should do at no other time 
during his training. And now you have the next important 
lesson before you, the training him to drop "to the hand." 

Here again the lesson may be taught at first in a room, or 
small yard, and the cord and collar may come in play if your 
pupil is at all inclined to be stubborn, though the lesson is a 
simple one. It is simply this: Give him the word to drop, and, 
when doing so raise your right arm and hand straight. Of 
course, he goes down to your verbal order, so let him lie there 
for a few minutes and then order him up. After a short time, 
say ten minutes, having hold of the cord, call him by name, or 
give a low whistle, and as he looks at you raise your arm and 



PRACTICAL DOil EDUCATION. 11 

hand as before. If he does not drop (and it is hardly likely 
that he will do so, the first few times), jerk the cord sharply 
and say "drop," when he will go down. It will not take him 
long to learn that the raised arm and hand mean the same 
thing as the spoken word ' drop." Of course, if you are living 
In town, you may have to teach him all of the foregoing lesson 
in very restricted quarters; but it can be done there all the 
same. As the use of firearms is usually forbidden in town, you 
will now be compelled in teaching him to drop to shot to get 
him away from town. 

I am supposing that, during his younger days, you have ac- 
customed him to the sound of the snapping of percussion caps, 
and of very light charges of powder. You must take the long 
cord, your revolver and the blank cartridges. Once away from 
town, fasten the cord to his collar, letting it trail on the 
ground. Take him into an open field and let him run for a 
short time. After this, watch an opportunity when he is not 
more than the length of the cord from you, and is not looking 
at you. Have your revolver ready In your right hand, point it 
upward, with your hand and arm aloft, and fire one blank. 
Naturally, at the sound he will look towards you, and, seeing 
your raised arm, will go down. If he does not, keep your arm 
up, and seizing the cord with your left hand, jerking it, and 
giving the command to "drop." But if your teaching of the 
preliminary lessons has been as thorough as they should have 
been, this will not be needed; for the now well-known sight of 
your signal of the raised hand and arm will have been promptly 
obeyed. 

Should this be the case, go slowly up to the dog, and after 
letting him lie quiet for about five minutes order him up — and 
after a few kind words and pats let him know that he has done 
well and that you are pleased with him — send him off again for 
another short run. At the end of about fifteen minutes watch 
your chance as before; get within reach of the cord, and again, 
with your right hand and arm aloft, fire another blank with 
the revolver when he is not looking, keeping your hand and 
arm up. As said before, dogs are like children, some catching 
a new idea quicker than others; but in my experience most 
dogs, if well taught in the previous lessons, learn this dropping 
to shot in a very short time, and drop promptly when at the 
extreme distance at which the sound can be heard. If you find 



12 PRACTICAL DOG EDUtATION. 

that your pupil is learning very rapidly make the periods of 
time between shots longer, but let them always be at moments 
when the dog's attention seems to not be upon your movements. 
The final step is to practice him until perfect, to drop to shot 
without your making any signal with the hand and arm, but 
do not try to go too fast. I cannot insist too strongly that he 
must be perfect in each lesson before attempting to learn 
the next one. No one part of this task must be done in a slov- 
enly, half-hearted way; and be not lacking in praise and com- 
mendation of him when he has done well. Another point is 
that when he has done well that is the proper time to stop 
with that particular lesson, for he will then have something 
pleasant to look back to and remember. It is quite possible 
that some may be thinking me inclined to give dogs credit for 
more mental powers than they possess. Well, in answer to that 
I may say that if they had raised, owned and handled as many 
dogs as I have, they would agree with instead of differing from 
me. To complete these important lessons you have now to only 
practice him daily until he drops at the sound of the shot with- 
out any other signal from you. 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 13 



III. 

Having your dog now well trained in the dropping to word, 
hand and shot, the next step, if you are living where game is 
plenty, is to get him to drop to wing, or, in other words, when 
a game bird is flushed to him. As it is not necessary that game 
should be killed over him in teaching him this very important 
part of his education, you need not come in conflict with the 
game laws. Even though it be in the open season for game, 
it is better that birds should not be killed to him yet, for seeing 
game fall to the gun at this early stage of his learning will be 
a temptation to disobey the sound of the gun, and so lead him 
Into one of the worst faults a dog can have, namely, breaking 
into shot. It is my belief that more dogs have learned to be 
practically worthless in this way (unless thoroughly retrained) 
than from almost any other cause, and here, as in so many 
other things, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure." If you are not living where game is easily reached, this 
part of his training must perforce be delayed until game is to 
be killed over the dog; but, even then, if you desire to have 
your dog be one you can take pride in, and his working be for 
you and himself an increasing pleasure, you will, at least 
during his first season, make the bagging of game a very sec- 
ondary matter. 

Being in a game-frequented part of the country, take him 
where it is to be found, and having fast to his collar the long 
cord. It will be found a good plan to have the outward or 
trailing end of this cord whipped tightly with fine copper wire, 
as this will prevent it from untwisting and allow it to slip over 
grass and through brush, while if it was knotted at the end, it 
v/ould certainly annoy you in this way, and, generally, just at 
the most inopportune times. I will suppose that your dog 
struck the scent of game, and shows it by his action. Get 
quickly but quietly up within reach of the cord, having the 
revolver ready. As it may be the first time your dog has 
scented game, it will hardly be fair to expect that he will point. 
If the pointing instinct is strongly developed in him and he 



14 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

comes to a stand all right, let him stay at point for a few 
minutes, you having got a firm hold of the cord meanwhile. 
Then whue he stands you flush the bird and the moment it 
flushes fire a blank shot. ; 

His nature will prompt him to dash away in chase, but the 
sound of the cartridge tells him to drop. If he rushes after the 
game he will quickly and severely be brought to a stop by the 
cord of which you have hold, and tnen you are to give, further 
punishment by getting him back to where he was at point, and 
there telling him to drop. Use no other punishment, do no 
scolding, but remember that though your pupil has done wrong 
it is a first offense, and that he had no way of knowing that he 
was doing wrong. If, on the other hand, he made a good point 
and dropped well to shot, all is well. In either case let him 
stay down for quite a little while, say fifteen minutes, as you 
must not be in a hurry. Then, with a pleasant word, or a 
kindly pat or two, let him try for another find, and go on re- 
peating the lesson day after day for several days. Gradually 
increase the time between the rising of the bird and firing of 
the shot, and you will soon notice that he does not wait for the 
sound of the pistol, and anticipates it by dropping as the bird 
flushes. 

You have now reached a point in the education of your pupil 
where, if he is of a gentle, timid disposition, you may halt for 
a time before you go to the next lesson. It is not meant by 
this, however, that you are to stop practicing him in the lessons 
already learned. You want to drill him in these things for 
several days, and it is well to always reward him in some way 
for every well-performed task, for dogs are like children, they 
like to be praised and rewarded for doing anything well. I do 
not know if I have previously mentioned it, but always when 
giving a verbal order, use some certain word for that order 
(and not a whole sentence), and never change that word. It 
is the same with signals, if you wish him to work by them only. 
Adopt a code to suit your own ideas, each one meaning that 
you wish him to do some certain thing, and, as with the words, 
make no changes, because you do not wish to confuse him, but 
have everything as plain and comprehensible to his under- 
standing as you can make it. You can now once more return 
to the yard-training, pure and simple, for his next lesson, by 
which he is taught to come to you promptly by a word or a 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 15 

single short blast of the whistle, or to go from you at the order 
"hie on." 

There are many who claim that this should be a dog's first 
lesson, but I do not agree with them. Training a dog to this 
at the first is, with some dogs, very apt to get them into the 
bad habit of being afraid to range out boldly in fear that they 
may not hear an order to "come in," and then get punishment 
of some kind when they do come; so to be on the safe side they 
acquire this bad habit of running in every few minutes, only to 
be sent out again. A well-trained dog, when ranging in search 
of game, will always have wide open his eyes and ears for 
orders, or signals from his master; but he will not let this 
watchfulness of sight and hearing interfere with an equal 
watchfulness by his nose for the locating of game. To teach 
this next lesson you must again resort to the long cord and the 
stake driven into the ground. It is well that the top of this 
stake should be about two feet above the top of the ground. 
Fasten the two ends of the cord to the dog's collar, and pass 
the cord over or around the stake, having it to play freely. Now 
walk back with the dog as far as the cord will allow, the 
farther the better. Have the dog standing by you, make a for- 
ward motion towards the stake with one hand, and at the same 
time give the order to "hie on" or "go on." 

Of course he does not understand you, so begin pulling on 
one strand of the cord, hand over hand, tnus drawing him 
away from ou and towards the stake, while you keep repeat- 
ing the order. When you have drawn him nearly up to the 
stake, stop pulling on that part of the cord, and, after letting 
him stand (or, if he chooses), lie dowu for a moment, give a 
low whistle, or the order "come in," and draw him back to you 
by pulling on the other half of the cord. If he seems at all 
timid, pet him for a moment, or give him a bit of meat or a 
biscuit, and then after a minute go over the lesson again. Now, 
as in actual work under the gun, you will frequently wish to 
send your dog out to range in other directions, as well as 
straight ahead, after you have got him to promptly obey your 
order to "come in" and "hie on" ahead, you have to teach him 
to go out to right or left, as you may wish at the time. To do 
this, if you wish him to go to the right, place him as before, 
and then having half the length of the cord extending between 
him and the stake, and you the other half, walk away from 



16 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

him until he, you and the stake each form one of the angles of 
a right-angled triangie. Now with the cord in your left hand, 
wave your right arm towards the stake, and give the order 
"hie on." If he does not know which way to go (and it is 
barely a chance that he will), pull on the cord in your left 
hand, and this draws him across your front to the right, and 
towards the stake, and wave him with your right arm in that 
direction. As he is supposed to have learned in the previous 
lessons just what the pull on the cord means, viz., that he is 
to go in the direction he feels the cord drawing, he will soon 
learn that a wave of your arm to the right means just the 
same. Drill him in these two lessons until perfect at them in 
the yard, and then you have only to reverse the last one, using 
your right hand to pull the cord, and your left arm and hand to 
wave to the left, and he will soon catch the meaning of that 
signal, as he did the others. Your next move is to get him to 
obey these signals in the open field. 

To do this you must, if a town resident, again take your 
pupil into the country. Have fast to his collar the long cord 
and let it trail after him. It may not be really needed, but the 
knowledge that he wears it, and the recollection that on 
previous occasions it has placed him within your reach when 
he thought he was going to have everything his own way, will 
have a good effect. Walk about with him for a little while, 
keeping him at heel by means of the cord. Then order him on, 
letting him take his own course. In a few minutes whistle to 
him, and when he looks around to you wave him to the right, 
turning and walking in that direction yourself. If he obeys, 
all right; but if not, order or signal him to drop and when he 
is down go quietly up to him, order him up and begin over 
again. Do not be put out of temper if you have several failures 
in getting him to understand. Everything depends on your 
keeping cool, for he only wants to get an understanding of 
what you wish him to do. I will suppose that at last he has 
learned what you wish and obeys the motion of the hand. Now 
let him run in that direction till he nears the side of the field, 
you following. Then whistle again, and the moment he looks 
to you wave your other arm to the left, and turn that way 
yourself. Seeing you turn will turn him, and in this way he 
will soon obey the wave of the arm without your altering your 
course. 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 17 

It must be borne in mind that these are not lessons in rang- 
ing, but lessons in obeying signals. Having a dog trained to 
range with mathematical precision may sound well in theory, 
and look very pretty on an open prairie, but my experience 
is that a dog should range over ground where his scenting 
powers and past experience tell him game is likely to be found, 
and not wear himself out in covering ground where game never 
goes, only because it looks pretty to see him do it. You might 
train a greyhound or a coach dog to that, but of what good 
vrould they be as birdflnders? You want your present pupil to 
rely on your judgment as to where the game may be found 
now, and to look to you to direct him where to hunt for it. 
Later he will learn to know likely spots at sight, and work 
them out when signaled to do so. 



18 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 



IV. 

As I am one of the old style of sportsmen who hold to the 
theory that no dog can be held to be fully trained that does not 
retrieve dead and wounded game, it follows that, as your pupil 
is now supposed to be trained in all of the other essential re- 
quirements for field work, that retrieving should be the final 
lesson. But I am not in favor of his being required or encour- 
aged to retrieve, during his first season, every head of game 
killed to his points, lest he look upon it as an encouragement 
to become unsteady to wing and shot. And now as to how he 
should be trained. In the first article of this series I spolve of 
always using a bunch of turkey quill feathers as being the best 
thing with which to train a dog to retrieve, and stated that, 
later on, I would say why I thought so. The reason is plain 
and it is simply that he should get used to the feel of the 
feathers in his mouth. I have in past years seen more than one 
dog perfectly yard trained to retrieve balls, gloves, sticks and 
other articles he could lift, and refuse to retrieve his bird the 
first time he was called on to lift one. Suppose that bird to be 
a snipe that has fallen just across a ditch too wide for you to 
jump and too deep for you to wade. 

Well, what are you going to do about it? The dog has gone 
to the bird, and now looks first at it and then at you, and wags 
his tail. It won't do to call him away and leave that bird and 
wait till you ivill another that you and he can both go to; for 
that will give him the idea that he can retrieve or not, just as 
it suits him. Talk about moral suasion is all very well, but it 
won't work in animal training, not one little bit. You must 
have absolute, unconditional, instant obedience; and it will be 
wholly your own fault and not the dog's, if you place yourself 
in a position where you are unable to enforce it. I have said 
many times and I repeat it now,. that I am all for kindness and 
gentleness in educating animals; but not for coaxing. As in 
his previous training, you must rely on the check cord and 
force-collar as "your right-hand man." Sit down on a stool or 
low chair, call the dog up to you, and put the cord and collar 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 19 

on him. The short cord, of say six feet long, will do best in 
the first two or three lessons. 

Of course, the first thing for the dog to learn is to hold the 
feathers when placed in his mouth. There must be no lip 
pinching or nose twisting about this. You want your pupil to 
associate all ideas of pain or punishment only with disobedi- 
ence, as heretofore; and not with the lack of knowledge on his 
part of what you wish him to do. Being seated yourself, with 
the dog also seated in front of you, open his mouth gently with 
your left hand, and roll in the feather bunch with your right 
hand, giving the order, "hold it." He will try to put them out 
of his mouth immediately, of course; so replace them again 
and repeat your order sharply, but not loudly. After a few 
trials your pupil will understand that he is not to drop the 
feathers, and will hold them while you sit by him. Now while 
he holds them, make a move to get up from your seat, and the 
odds are that, his attention being thus attracted, he will drop 
the feathers. If he does not, all is well; but if he drops them, 
jerk the cord sharply with your left hand to punish him, re- 
place the feathers in his mouth with your other hand, and try 
again. 

After a time he will get the idea that, no matter what move 
you may make, he must not drop the feathers. You may now 
safely "aujourn the court" till next day, not forgetting to 
praise your pupil for having done well; and you may even re- 
ward him for so doing with a bit of meat, a biscuit, or some- 
thing for which you know he has a special liking. On the mor- 
row it will be well to go over the previous lesson to make sure 
that he is perfect in it, and then proceed as follows: Placing 
the feathers in his mouth, rise up and walk away from him a 
few steps, and give the order "fetch." It being a new order, he 
may not comprehend it; so draw him gently towards you by 
means of the cord. As he comes towards you, keep walking 
around with him following you, but watch sharp that he keeps 
the feathers in his mouth. If he drops them at any time go to 
them immediately, jerking him sharply up to where the 
feathers lie, replace them in his mouth, and go over again with 
the whole performance. This is lesson No. 2 and you must 
practice him at it until he will carry them so long as you 
desire and not drop the feathers. 

Lesson No. 3 now comes, and here again you may resume 



20 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

your seat, with the dog sitting in front of you. Hold the cord 
in your right hand and the feathers in your left, moving them 
towards his mouth and giving the order "take hold," and at the 
same moment drawing his head towards the feathers till they 
touch his nose. Just here some dogs seem to know what is 
wanted of them, open their mouths and receive the feathers, 
because of what they have learned in the preceding lessons. 
Your pupil may not do this at first, so jerk the cord just enough 
to make him feel the force-collar pinch him, and he will open 
his mouth enough to cry out, when, as he does so, you must 
drop the feathers into his mouth, loosen the pull on the cord 
and give him a word of encouragement. Having already 
learned that he is to hold the feathers when placed in his 
mouth he will do so now. Gradually he will learn to reach out 
for the feathers as they are held towards him and take hold of 
them at your order "take hold." When you have got him to 
do this every time you may feel well pleased, as this is usually 
one of the hardest parts of retrieving to make a dog under- 
stand. 

Little by little, you must now increase the distance at which 
you hold the feathers from him, until he will have learned to 
move toward them when held at least a yard away from him. 
Practice him at this for several days, and then, when he is 
perfect at it, make a change of tactics by holding the feathers 
no longer on a level with his mouth, but a few inches below 
that level, and still in front of him. To give him a help in 
learning to lower his head, pass the cord down under the 
hollow of your foot (which should be near him), and when you 
order him to "take hold," draw on the cord and this will pull 
down his head. Give the order "take hold" when his head is 
down opposite the feathers, but not until then. After he has 
learned that he is to reach down, as well as away from him, 
you may give the order a little sooner. Practice him often at 
this until he will reach to the floor to take hold of the feathers 
in your hand, and do not try to go farther in his lessons until 
he is perfect at this. 

And now we come to what is practically the last step in re- 
trieving, and generally for an amateur trainer the hardest one 
to teach, unless he knows what he is about. I refer to the 
teaching the dog to go for the feathers when thrown to a short 
distance. If you have access to an unoccupied building where 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 21 

there will be nothing to attract the dog's attention away from 
you, the matter will be much simplified; though the lesson 
can be taught in a quiet and retired backyard. You want a 
small pulley fastened firmly to the floor or ground, and if this 
pulley fastening turns on a swivel so much the better. Use 
your long check-cord now insteaa of the short one, passing the 
end not fastened to the collar on the dog's neck through the 
pulley. Call the dog to you and place yourself and him as far 
from the pulley as the cord will allow. Now cast the feathers 
about half way to the pulley, having the dog standing at your 
side. Order him to "go on," and as he has already been 
trained to do this, the moment he gets to the feathers bid him 
first to "drop," and then "take hold"; see that you get him to 
drop a little before he reaches the feathers, so that he will not 
drop on them, but where he can reach them while he is down. 
Next give the order "take hold," and if he does not immediately 
do so, jerk the cord you hold in your hand, you having before 
this taken up the slack as the dog left your side. 

This will draw him away from you and toward the feathers. 
If he seizes the feathers, drop the cord, give the order "hold 
up." for him to get on his feet, and then the orders "fetch," 
"come here." Occasionally a young dog at this point in his 
training grasps the notion of what you require of him right at 
this point, and you are exceedingly fortunate if you have such 
a pupil. Usually, when the dog has reacned the feathers and 
dropped to your order he will, when told to "take hold," expect 
you to come to him and put your hand down near to the 
feathers, but this is just what you must not do, unless all other 
methods fail; and even then you may do it only with a timid 
dog, to help him to comprehend what you require. Ordinarily, 
if he does not reach for the feathers at your order, you are to 
repeat it, pulling on the cord as you give the order, and so 
drawing him up to the feathers, when a few light jerks on the 
cord will, sooner or later, cause him to obey. When once he 
has done so, you have, figuratively speaking, "climbed the hill," 
so do not be sparing of your praise, and let him see by your 
manner that he has done something very pleasing to you. 

But, before this, while he holds the feathers, give the order 
"hold up," and, as he gets on his feet, the new order "fetch," 
drawing him gently toward you. When he reaches you, have 
him sit down in front of you; then, after a minute's pause. 



22 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

take the feathers from his mouth, and then reward him in 
any way you think will be most pleasing to him. Now prac- 
tice him daily in this lesson for say a week, always giving 
praise for well-doing. Should he at any time drop the feathers 
when coming to you, make him drop right by them (pulling 
him back to them by the cord, if necessary), and proceed as 
in the first instance. When he has become well drilled in this 
lesson, vary the programme by standing off to one side, and, 
when giving the orders "hie on," "take hold," "fetch," wave 
your right or left hand and arm, as may suit the case, in the 
direction of the feathers, and when he has picked them up, 
insist (by the help of the cord) that he come directly to you 
and hold the feathers 7intil you take them from his mouth. 

Nothing is more exasperating than to have a dog bring a 
bird part way to you, and then drop it, perhaps on the far side 
of a wide and deep ditch. You want him to understand that, 
once a bird is in his mouth, he is not to drop it except into 
your hand, and not even there until ordered to do so. I have 
now in the foregoing and present articles given the system on 
which I have trained many dogs, with never yet a failure. I 
have given simply the outlines. The details everyone must 
fill in to suit the idiosyncrasies of the various pupils he may 
undertake to instruct; and, as dogs vary in disposition and 
aptitude in learning, the trainer must judge for himself how to 
vary these details to suit individual cases. The mere matter 
of teaching the dog to find the feathers when hidden, later on, 
to the orders of "dead bird, find," is so simple that I feel I 
have no right to take up space by repeating it here. Continual 
practice in all of the lessons given will go so far toward per- 
fecting your pupil for field work, and, when once he has come 
to actual work under the gun, he will quickly come to under- 
stand the reason for his yard training, and work as though he 
had been born trained, working with all of the exactitude of 
the trick horse in the circus ring, and with as much mechanical 
precision. 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 23 



REFINEMENTS IN RETRIEVING. 

I. 

In a previous chapter I stated that I should only give the 
outlines of my system of training, leaving any of my readers 
Vv'ho might undertake to educate his own dog to fill in the 
details to suit the circumstances and the individual tempera- 
ment of his pupil; for it is my contention that each dog 
has an individuality of his own, and that a system of 
training which might be perfect for one dog must be 
varied in some one or more particulars to prove a success 
with some other dog, even though it be a litter-brother 
or sister of the first one. In no work on the subject I have yet 
seen has this fact been mentioned, and only what seem "hard 
and fast" rules are given to be followed by the would-be 
trainer, and this I claim to be a mistake. 

When I wrote of training to retrieve, I left off where the 
supposed pupil had learned to go out for the bunch of feathers 
and pick them up to order. I also said that in this part of 
the instruction the cord of thirty feet should be used, but 
forgot to say that a cord of double that length would be better 
still, as it allows both yourself and your pupil to be at greater 
distances from, the pulley fastened to the post, and therefore 
more room in which to work. When your dog has learned to 
pick up the feather roll promptly, at the order "fetch," insist 
that he come directly to you from where he seized hold of 
them, and not go circling round to your rear. To enforce this 
practice, should he show any inclination to pass around you, 
draw him to you in a direct line by means of the cord, and 
when he comes to you, make him sit down in front of you. 
Then call him by name to get him to look up to ypu, and not 
until he does so must you take the feathers from him. It is, 
to me, simply disgusting to see an otherwise well-trained dog, 
when retrieving a bird, sneak around behind his owner, then 
sit down, and when the bird is reached for, drop his head and 
make the shooter reach for the bird to the ground. 

After he has retrieved the feathers a few times and done 
otherwise as here directed, let him bring them to you again, 



24 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

sit up in front of you, and then hold them while you pass your 
hand over his head and around his mouth, and in contact there- 
with. But he is not to drop the feathers while you do this. 
If he does, scold him, place the feathers again in his mouth, 
and again stroke his head and nose, not allowing him to loosen 
his hold of the feathers. By this teaching he learns that when 
he has brought in to you a dead or wounded bird he is to hold 
it till he receives the order "give." The object of so training 
him is this: Suppose you have had a double shot at snipe, 
wing-tipping your first bird and missing the second one. Your 
■dog drops to wing, you throw out the empty shells, insert fresh 
cartridges, and give the order "dead bird," "fetch," all the 
while keeping your eye on the missed bird to mark it down. 
Tour dog retrieves the other snipe and sits down in front of 
you, and then, finding that you do not take it from him imme- 
diately, but keep your gaze fixed on the other snipe, drops the 
one he holds, unnoticed by you, when it may quickly slip away, 
and hide in the rushes, perhaps to be found no more. 

Now, if you trained that dog, you and not he are to blame 
for this. If you have the ill luck to wing-tip or otherwise 
badly wound any one of the first few birds you shoot at over 
your pupil, there is one cast-iron rule to be followed if you 
wish your dog to become what I call a fine retriever, and that 
rule is to stay by the bird till your dog, with or (better) with- 
out your assistance, finds it and brings it to you, even though 
you may have to give up any further shooting, and devote the 
tohole day to retrieving that one bird. I italicize this line as 
a written rule from which there must not be any deviation, as 
it teaches the dog that, no matter how much he may wish to 
be off in search of other birds; no matter how much time it 
may take; no matter what obstacles are to be met and over' 
come, that bird must be found and brought to bag; and this is 
a lesson for both of you, if you wish to own a retrieving setter, 
pointer or spaniel to be proud of. If you are not a crack shot, 
the first time you go out to practice your dog at retrieving 
game, be prepared by having in your game pocket a dead bird 
(a pigeon will do), and then, should you be so unfortunate as 
to wound a bird, and your dog, after continued searching, fails 
to find it, even with your help, you can, unseen by him, drop 
the bird you have with you and work him around till near it, 
and then let him find and retrieve it. 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 25 

This will stimulate him wonderfully for future efforts in 
that line, and you will, with practice, soon have a dog from 
which it will be almost an impossibility for game to make its 
escape. I once owned an English setter bitch, a lineal descend- 
ant of H. W. Herbert's dog Chance, of which he writes in his 
"Field Sports of the United States," etc., and trained her my- 
self. I kept her till she died of age at thirteen years and six 
ii:onths, and began shooting over her when she was ten months 
old. With her brace-mate (a setter dog), I used her for twelve 
years, and neither she nor the dog ever lost me but one bird in 
all that time. Either of these dogs would bring me dead or 
wounded game surely yet tenderly; but, let either one of 
them come upon a snake, an opossum, a rat or any other ver- 
min, and no bulldog would be more fierce or deadly in his 
attack upon it. They were not satisfied with the mere killing, 
but every bone in the animal would be crunched; yet neither 
of these dogs ever bit a game bird. 

My readers, those were dogs. Many another good one was 
brought to beat them afield on game, but Monk and Nellie 
ever were the only-acknowledged victors, whether it was on 
snipe, woodcock or quail; and both of these dogs (and all 
others I have owned) were trained by myself, and on the 
system I have laid down In this little volume. Happy 
indeed would I be did I now own one dog like unto 
either of them. But I must not write of them longer, 
for the knowledge that never again will they follow me 
afield; that never again will the kind brown eyes look 
lovingly into mine, brings moisture to my eyes and a choking 
in my throat. May God keep my memory of them ever green! 
And now to other matters of interest to others than myself. 
It sometimes occurs that a young dog, from over-eagerness, 
gets to handling game too roughly, and, if not checked at 
once, to biting it, and finally to eating it. No dog should ever 
be taken to work on game after eating just previously a hearty 
meal; and neither should he be required to work on an empty 
stomach; and, parenthetically, I may remark that the sports- 
man will do well to follow this rule himself. 

If your pupil shows any disposition to mouth his birds when 
carrying them, it must be stopped at once. 

Have two stiff wires a little sharpened at each end, and long 
enough to just reach through a bird. I will suppose you are 



26 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

quail shooting. Have with you a check cord of say twenty 
feet in length, and never he without it and your force-collar. 
Your dog points a single bird, or a bevy, and you flush and kill 
one bird. Remember, you are not out to make a bag of game, but 
to train your dog. He has dropped to shot all right, and you 
are to let him lie there while you go quietly to the bird and 
thrust one wire downward through the back and breast, the 
other at right angles through it, from side to sid§i. Drop the 
bird where it first fell and walk to where you were when you 
fired the shot. Open your gun and throw out the shell, put in 
a cartridge, and then give the word "dead," "hold up," "find." 
The dog gallops off and finds the bird, and seeing he has found 
it, you say "fetch." He seizes it, bites on it, but his tongue or 
upper jaw, and perhaps both, are punished by the wire points 
in exact proportion to the greediness with which he has bitten 
it. He drops it, of course, and now comes the "tug of war." 

Order him to fetch, and if he does so, all is well; but you 
may rest assured he will do it without biting that bird. If he 
refuses to retrieve, keep cool, lay down your gun (first re- 
moving the cartridges), go quietly to the dog, and put on the 
force-collar and cord and then and there, by its means, make 
him pick up that bird and bring it to you. You may have to 
place the bird in his mouth a time or two, and if so, do it very 
gently and let him hold it for a few minutes. He will not be 
long in finding out that a bird picked up lightly "has no sting." 
Now remove the cord and force-collar, take up your gun, and 
bid him "hie on." When he gets another point, work as 
before, with this difference: Do not shoot at the newly flushed 
bird, but in some other direction, and at the same time pitch 
the bird you have wired in the direction you shoot, and then 
work him as before. After he has brought you the wired bird 
you may go and kill a bird or two for him, and watch closely 
to see if he shows any disposition to bite them. 

If not, all right, but keep the wired bird handy in a pocket 
by itself, so that you may be prepared. Now, there are some 
dogs that never bite a dead bird, yet when sent to retrieve 
cripples will bite them. Generally this is caused by nervous 
excitement, due to -high breeding. The whip would be worse 
than useless in nine out of ten such cases, and might cause 
your pupil to abandon retrieving altogether and give you your 
work to do all over again. But this bad habit must be 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 27 

stopped at the outset. Return home at once and procure 
a live tame pigeon. Get a piece of thinnish leather half an 
inch wide and long enough to reach round the body of the 
pigeon, just behind its wings. Next get eight or ten eight-ounce 
carpet tacks and push them through the strap about half an 
inch apart. Sew a button on one end of the strap, and cut 
a buttonhole at the other end. Now get your wife or best 
girl to sew a strip of muslin to the strap, covering up the 
tack heads, with the points and the button on the other side. 
With a pair of scissors cut the flight feathers from one wing 
of your pigeon, button on him the spiked belt just back of his 
wings, put him in a pocket so that he cannot be injured or 
escape, and you are ready for business. 

Get your gun and a few cartridges (blanks will do), and 
start out with your dog. Be sure you take the force-collar 
and check cord. Bid your dog "hie on," and let him run for a 
short time, and then, when you are unobserved by him, toss 
the pigeon out into the grass and fire a shot in the air. The 
dog drops, thinking you have put up a bird he has failed to 
scent. Reload the gun, and then comes the order "dead bird," 
"find." When you see he has the scent of the pigeon, order 
him to "fetch." He goes up, finds a live bird and proceeds 
to bite it, but the eight-ounce tacks enter a protest. Of course 
he drops it, and now you must proceed as directed with a 
wired dead bird, and by using judgment, patience and re- 
peated lessons you will soon have that pupil learn that 
he is not to bite game, whether it be living or dead. No 
v»-hip is used, no fear of you bred in the dog, and he punishes 
himself if doing wrongly, and gets no punishment when 
handling game as he should. The lesson once learned is never 
forgotten, and he may be trusted thereafter. 



28 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 



II. 

When I wrote out the foregoing chapter I thought I had said 
all that I wished on the subject, but I find that 1 have not. In 
fact, it may as well be at once stated that on the subject of dog 
education, as on guns, fine guns, the writer is an out-and-out 
crank, and feels no shame in admitting the fact. It is obvious 
that game when shot at and killed, may in falling not always 
reach the ground; being caught in the falling by twigs and 
creepers, and so kept beyond the reach of your setter or pointer. 
It. is, therefore, very desirable that after you have him perfect 
in retrieving from the ground or water, that he be put through 
a course of training to prepare him for just such emergencies. 
To do this you must first practice him in finding (and, of 
course, retrieving) the feather-roll or a dead bird after you 
have hidden it on or close to the ground. As this is a lesson 
you can teach in your own dooryard and one in which he will 
take great delight, practice him at it twice a day. Gradually 
you may hide the bird (in shrubbery) higher from the ground 
until he has learned that when he cannot find it on the ground 
he must elevate his head and search at a higher level. 

Never forget to be gentle with him, and be generous of 
praise and you will probably be surprised to find that your 
pupil delights in the performance, so much so, in fact, that 
when he has located the bird or feathers which you have pur- 
posely hidden beyond his reach, he will let you know it by 
his futile efforts to get at it, and bark because he is vexed 
that Nature did not endow him with longer legs. Then when 
you go forward, reach up and take the bird, and hand it to 
him to carry to the point from where you sent him to search 
for it, he will have learned the very important lesson that cir- 
cumstances may occur when he must appeal to you for aid; 
and that lesson once learned will never be forgotten. I remem- 
ber once that when shooting woodcock over my white-red set- 
ter Monk, he got a point close under a hedge of old water wil- 
lows. These trees (still standing) had in past years been 
topped off about four feet above ground, and then had, in after 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 29 

seasons, put out new limbs from the top of the decapitated 
trunks. 

As usual I flushed the woodcock myself, and it flew directly 
away from me, rising until just above the willows. It was an 
easy shot and I killed the bird. Monk dropped to shot, and I 
reloaded (it was in the days of muzzle loaders), and then sent 
him for the bird. He went for it, and after waiting for him 
sometime without his coming, I flrst noticed the willow limbs 
were being shaken and then heard Monk whine. Running to 
the place with the fear in me that Monk had got fastened in 
some way, I found him making most strenuous efforts to reach 
up to the top of one of the wilow trunks. He received me 
with yelps of joy, tinged with vexation. Setting down my guu 
and forcing my way into the hedge I climbed up the old wil- 
low truuK to see what was there, and found that the cock had 
fallen directly on the top of the trunk and lay there dead. 
What did I do? Well, T got down, lifted Monk up there and 
let him have, as a reward, the satisfaction of picking up the 
bird, jumping down and then bringing it to me where I stood 
by my gun. 

It is such lessons as this that help to make a perfect dog, and 
yet how few amateur trainers there be who ever give such 
things a thought, or imagine that dogs can and do appreciate 
a kindness. With regard to teaching your dog to retrieve from 
water there is something to be said. The first thing to do is to 
know that your pupil is not water shy, refusing to enter the 
water and swim. Retrieving from the water should be taught 
in Summer, when both air and water are warm enough for 
you to enter, as you may have to do a few times to a depth 
where you may wade, but your dog has to swim; and you 
should, therefore, prepare for such emergencies. Where a 
young dog is water shy, I have always found that the quickest 
way to break up such nonsense was to take him out in a boat 
on some pond, and then leave him on some sandbar or islet 
and row away from him, coaxing him to come after me, and 
not on any account going back for him. The fear in him of 
being left alone will overcome the fear of entering the water, 
and especially if you go where be cannot see you. 

Once he has learned that he can swim he will soon take de- 
light in doing so, and that trouble will be at an end. 

When it is you may begin teaching him to retrieve from the 



30 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

water. Here once more the roll of feathers is the best thing 
to use and if (as I should have previously directed) a couple 
of good-sized bottle corks are rolled up in the center, it will 
float all the better. Now take your dog to the stream or pond, 
selecting a spot where the bottom has a gradual slope and a 
reasonably hard bottom and with no current to carry away 
the feathers. Should there be a current attach to the center 
of the feather roll by means of a cord a light weight to act as 
an anchor, but if you can find a piece of still water and dis- 
pense with the cord and weight it will be very much the best 
plan. Now stand a yard or two from the shore, order your 
dog to "drop," and 'then cast the roll just in the edge of the 
water. Let him lie still for a moment, then give the orders 
"hold up," "fetch." If he obeys promptly at first, all is well; 
but it is just possible that in picking up the feather roll he 
may also pick up a mouthful of water and in attempting to 
eject the latter, drop the former. 

\ou are not to show ill-humor at this. Just remember that 
you could not read until you had learned to spell, and if he 
drops the roll call him to you, make him "drop" and then you 
are to pick up the roll, go back to the dog and repeat the 
whole lesson. A few trials will teach him how to seize the 
roll and leave the water where it belongs and then the worst 
is over. After that you may day after day slowly increase the 
distance until no matter how far you cast the roll he will go 
for it and bring it to you. Once or twice in past years I have 
had pupils that were inclined to be refractory when they had 
to go beyond their wading depth. There was but one thing for 
me to do, and it was done-; and that was to wade out myself, 
drawing gently by the collar the dog with me to the feathers 
and there making him take it in his mouth, follow me to the 
shore and out on land, and then sit up and hold the roll for a 
moment before I take it from him. But it is right to say that 
only in quite rare instances will the amateur trainer meet with 
such experiences, if he has properly taught and practiced the 
pupil while retrieving from on the land. 

With the weighted roll by gradually increasing the direction 
of casting into the water, a dog may be taught to dive for a 
wing-broken duck to the depth of say a foot or two; but I do 
not recommend it, though my dog Monk, above named, was so 
trained by myself; and on one occasion I saw him swim across 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 31 

the Delaware River (there about two hundred yards wide) 
after a wing-broken teal duck; and then as it dived to escape 
him he also went uuder after it, and when he came to the sur- 
face that duck was fluttering in his mouth and stayed there till 
he reached me. On another occasion I saw his brace-mate, 
Nellie, swim across a partly flooded meadow, come to a point 
the moment her feet touched bottom, and with only her head 
showing above water hold that point for twenty minutes while 
I got around to where I could flush the eleven snipe she had 
winded. There was no such thing as getting her to flush game 
once pointed, nor could she be called off of a point. You might 
as well attempt to built a trolley road to the moon. This was 
in the month of March, with the water bitterly cold. For- 
tunately my cousin, now well known to the literary and sci- 
entiflc world as Dr. Charles C. Abbott, was witness to this 
point of Nellie's and talks often of it now. 

While here noting intelligent acts of dogs I will cite some 
others. At one time it was my good fortune to have presented 
to me a lemon-and-white pointer pup, the only pointer I have 
ever owned. I raised and taught him on the system here 
given, and he developed into the finest pointer it has ever been 
my fortune to shoot over. He was what would even now be 
called a fast dog, with exc- lent scenting power, very stanch 
on point and backing, and very knowing, uid he get a point 
in thick cover he would, when you approached, look aloft and 
then, if he thought he could show a better chance for me to 
make a clean kill he would back away from his point, make a 
quick circle around till he faced me, and wait for me to flush 
the bird. But he only did this when he thought it would be 
an aid to me, and he always was right in his judgment. 

The last dog I owned was also presented to me when a pup 
by my very good friend Wash A. Coster, former secretary of the 
Eastern Fields Trial Club. He was a white dog with orange 
ears, a Llewelyn of the purest, sired by Mr. Coster's Buck- 
alew, out of same owner's Brimstone, and she by champion 
Gladstone, out of Swaze. This dog Blarneystone. or Blarney, 
was a lightweight. He was one of the handsomest and most 
lovable dogs I ever saw. He was a retriever by nature, and 
never refused the work. At that time my wife kept a few 
chickens and ducks, and Blarney, though never offering to do 
them any harm, seemed very much interested in their doings. 



32 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

He had free access to the poultry house, but never took an egg. 
One day one of the hens laid an egg out on the ground in our 
backyard, and he found it lying there. He had seen my wife 
gather the eggs each evening and so learned that they were of 
some value; so he picked up .ae egg carefui.y and brought it 
into the kitchen and gave it to an aunt of mine who happened 
to be there. Some time after this one of our hens made a nest 
under our back piazza and laid there regularly. One day when 
we were all absent for an hour or two Blarney found an egg 
dropped by one of our ducks, carried it to the nest under the 
piazza, placed it in there, and then with his paws covered the 
nest up with straw and other litter. It so happened that my 
wife had not looked after the eggs in this nest for two days 
before this, and when feeling there that evening she remarked 
that instead of three eggs there were four and some other hen 
must have laid there, but she had never known a hen before 
then to cover up a nest. When, with three hen's eggs, she 
drew out the duck egg and happened to look around into the 
dog's face beside her, the look she saw in his brown eyes ex- 
plained it all. That night Blarney got the best part of a sir- 
loin steak for his supper. 

I have stated facts, not fiction. I suppose an apology is here 
due my readers for inflicting these reminiscences upon them, 
but I will not so offend again. It is not sentimentality, but a 
loving memory of the kindest, truest, most faithful and loving 
companions I have ever known, and yet no tribute to such 
devoted companions could ever, if in mere words written or 
spoken, do them justice. I fear it will not be my lot ever 
again to know such friends. 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 33 



FIELD TRAINING. 



It was asked of me by some who saw advance pages of "Prac- 
tical Dog Education" why I did not write of field training. 
The answer was easily given, and was simply that I did not 
think it necessary. My claim is (and it is based on many 
years of experience) that when a young dog has been properly 
and thoroughly yard-trained on the system I have given, there- 
after all his field training should be all the practice on game 
his owner can give him. He cannot have it too often or have 
too much of it, and he will then rapidly come to know why his 
primary education or yard training was given him and recog- 
nize its usefulness to him. 

Being one of the "old-timers," I fully agree with some of the 
rules laid down by the late "Frank Forester" as to what a dog 
working on game should or should not do. No dog, and espe- 
cially a young dog, ought ever to be asked to flush a bird after 
pointing it. It may be done with a steady, old dog, but it is 
the requirement of the pot-hunter and market-shooter (who 
want all of the game they find), but not of the true sportsman. 
The latter does not care about making big bags, but he does 
care that every bird he takes was got by the scientific work of 
both himself and his dogs. Hence, he takes no chance of mak- 
ing his young dog unsteady at point, simply because by doing so 
he may get a surer shot, but flushes the bird himself, and if he 
makes a miss, congratulates himself that he was not fool 
enough to teach his dog a bad habit. 

Again, I agree with "Forester" when he insists that a dog 
should point all game, whether it be dead, wounded or entirely 
unhurt; the first two until ordered to retrieve, the last until 
flushed by the shooter. It is argued by some that the pointing 
of wounded or dead game is a needless loss of time, and espe- 
cially so in these days of hammerless, automatic ejectors and 
repeated. c r C. deny it. It all turns upon the following ques- 



34 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

tions: Are you out only after meat, or are you out to see tliat 
your dog works in a manner you can take pride in? Your talk 
about a "needless loss of time" is (pardon me the slang) "all 
rot." We of the older generation of sportsmen did not look 
upon it as "loss of time" when we took so much care to see 
that the faithful, old-time muzzle-loader was properly reloaded; 
and some of us managed to get our share of the game and have 
dogs we could rely on at all times. But if you are tainted with 
that curse of so many of the American people, the fear of 
"losing time," then let me beg of you, never try to train a dog 
yourself; and if you buy a dog really well trained by someone 
else, do not expect him to remain well trained when worked 
for any length of time by you under your "hurry system." 

Then, there is yet another thing to be well considered in field 
training, and that is the kind of game on which your dog will 
be most often worked and the nature of the grounds it fre- 
quents. Never having done any shooting outside of my native 
State of New Jersey, I am of course entirely incompetent to 
attempt giving advice as to localities differing much from 
those where I have shot; but I am entitled to an opinion, and, 
if I am mistaken, ask that I may be set right. Thus, in the 
Western States and on the plantations of the Southern and 
Southwestern States, I can understand the very wide-ranging 
dogs which stop for nothing but to point, back or drop to 
shot and wing, are all correct. There a field may have any- 
where from one to five hundred acres of land, while here in the 
older States forty acres would be thought large for a meadow 
•or a field. My rule has always been never to allow a dog to 
pass through a hedge or fence or jump over a ditch ahead 
of me. 

Here, in our comparatively small fields and meadows, these 
are the very spots where (with the exception of Wilson's 
snipe )game is most often to be found; and if the dog is 
allowed to rush through or over them, he will often, through 
not having got the scent, flush the game when you are unable 
to get a shot. I will say here once for all that it is a good 
plan, and one which is to some dogs a real punishment, never 
to shoot at any game (no matter how tempting the shot) when 
through any disobedience of an order or by his own heedless- 
ness a dog flushes it. It is a rule I have always followed. I 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 35 

have heard some who, like myself, have been confined in their 
shooting to the older States, claim that the very fast and wide- 
ranging dog of the South and West would be worthless here, 
but I do not agree with thein. If the dog has first-class scent- 
ing powers, is under absolute control, and is stanch at point, 
his extra spoed is no detriment to his value. If game is scarce 
and scattered far apart, his speed enables him to reach it more 
quickly; then, if his nose is what it should be, he locates it at 
once; and if stanch at point, quietly awaits the arrival of the 
gun. When worked in heavy cover he will of course the first 
few times frequently point game when out of your sight and 
have to wait longer for you to find him; but he will soon tire 
of this waiting and see the cause of it. He learns that in the 
matter of speed four legs are superior to two, and to avoid 
these (to him) tiresome waits at point he will either cut down 
his speed, or, if keeping it up, make his casts less extended. 

As to a fast dog overrunning his game where a slow dog 
would find it, there is no truth in it. It is altogether a matter 
of good scenting powers. If a fast dog has good scenting 
power, and game is plenty in the cover, the game itself will 
stop him to point it, and while the slow dog of equally good 
nose is finding one bird, the more active dog finds and points 
ten. Then, to test the matter in the most thorough and con- 
vincing manner, try the two dogs side by side and cloiC7i ivind 
on snipe. In the Eastern States, on the rocky hillsides or thick 
swamps, a fast dog is compelled by the nature of the ground to 
work slow. He cannot do otherwise, and it is the same in our 
Jersey pines. Yet in the last-named place I have had my set- 
ters, which were fast and wide rangers on snipe and on quail in 
open fields, come down to a slow canter for fear of making a 
flush out of shot, and do so without an order from me. Do 
not, then, try to restrict your dog in his speed, with the pro- 
viso that he is always to keep a sharp watch on you for any 
signals you may have taught him to obey during his yard 
training. 

I have heard some people claim that the dropping to the 
signal of the raised hand was entirely superfluous. To that I 
may reply that having my dogs so trained has got nie many a 
shot I otherwise would not have had. It frequently occurs that 
when on the meadows after snipe I have seen, flying low or 



36 PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 

about to alight, a flock of ducks while my dogs were ranging 
some distance away. A low whistle would make the dogs look 
to me, the raised hand drop them in their tracks, and the ducks 
would pass near them unheeding and so give me a sviccessful 
shot, when, had my dogs not dropped, a shot, even at long 
range, would not have been had. Now, in the matter of re- 
trieving, I have said that I do not recommend that a dog during 
his first season should be required to retrieve every bird killed 
over his points, lest he become unsteady to shot and to wing. 
I will go even farther than that here and say that about one 
bird out of every ten killed may only be retrieved by him, and 
be sure that the birds you order him to retrieve are, first, 
killed cleanly, and, second, that they have fallen where you as 
well as the dog can reach them without trouble. 

Then, if through the excitement of over-eagerness he makes 
the very common mistake of rushing around too wildly, you 
can get to him to check him. Throughout his first season let 
him while at work wear the force collar, and have attached to 
it a cord about two feet long, with a small but strong ring 
fastened to the trailing end. In one of your pockets carry 
your long check cord with a snap hook at one end, and so be 
prepared for emergencies. The short cord will not incommode 
the dog much, and will be a constant reminder to him of what 
it has done in the past. When I say that the young dog in his 
field experience cannot have too much of it, I do not mean that 
he is to be worked all day long and day after day. On the con- 
trary, good judgment should be used by his owner, and care 
taken to prevent his becoming tired. If such care is not taken, 
he will get weary, work in a half-hearted, sluggish way, and, 
unless a dog of very high courage, become a potterer. 

In the matter of dropping to shot and to the rise of the bird, 
I would insist that it be enforced throughout his first season 
on game; but if by the end of his first season he shows perfect 
steadiness, he may then be allowed to stand instead of drop- 
ping. If, however, he is of a highly nervous temperament and 
shows even the slightest disposition to "break shot," return at 
once to the first plan and have him go down at the rise of the 
bird and the report of the gun. It will also be wise to dis- 
continue for a time allowing him to retrieve and keep him 
down at the drop longer than you have previously done; then 



PRACTICAL DOG EDUCATION. 37 

when you send him on by the command "find dead," and he 
finds and points it, go slowly up to him, and, after letting him 
point a few moments, pick up the bird yourself. If he attempts 
to move up unordered, caution him at once; and if he dis- 
obeys, catch hold of the short cord he has fast to the collar and 
jerk him sharply back to where he was standing and make him 
stay there while you go and gather the dead bird. In this way 
he is taught that when a bird has been killed he is not to move 
on until bidden, and to point the dead or wounded bird steadily 
until told to fetch. 

If I knew of any other better way of making a dog always 
steady to shot and wing, I should at once recommend it, but I 
am satisfied that no better plan has ever been devised. An- 
other thing that it is well to practice your dog at is as follows: 
When the birds are lying to point reasonably well, and the dog 
comes to a point, have someone with you go off some distance 
from you (say a hundred yards, while you stay by the dog, 
and then have your companion fire a shot. The dog should hold 
his point, not drop, and by occasionally following this plan, 
steadying your dog with a low-spoken word of caution, he 
learns that when at point he must hold it until the bird he has 
located is flushed. In what is above written I think all is said 
that is needed. True, I might go on almost indefinitely writing 
of supposititious faults and happenings and of how to avoid 
them, but it would be taking up space here unnecessarily and 
would be really insinuating that the average amateur trainer 
was lacking of good common sense. There is as much in "the 
man behind the dog" as there is in the dog itself. If the man 
adopts good methods and enforces them, he will have good 
dogs. If he does not do this, he must expect to have failures. 



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